Rev. Felix Granda y Alvarez Buylla (1868–1954) was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 Roman Catholic priest and sacred art

Sacred art

Sacred art is imagery intended to uplift the mind to the spiritual. Sacred art involves the ritual and cultic practices and practical and operative aspects of the path of the spiritual realization within the bosom of the tradition in question....

ist who founded the liturgical art workshop Talleres de Arte and directed its activities until his death. The workshop is now known as Talleres de Arte Granda in Spanish-speaking countries and as Granda Liturgical Arts in English-speaking countries.

Early life

Felix Granda was born on 21 February 1868 in Mieres, in the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 principality of Asturias

Asturias

The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...

. He was the oldest of the six children of Wenceslao Granda, a physician, and his wife Elvira. He began studies for the priesthood at the minor seminary in Oviedo

Oviedo

Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city....

 at the age of ten, and refined his skills in draftsmanship, painting, sculpture and metalwork by studying with artisans. He spent many summers in Muros de Nalon

Muros de Nalón

Muros de Nalón is a small coastal municipality in the Spanish province of Asturias, with an area of 8.09 square kilometers. It is bounded to the north by the Bay of Biscay, to the east by the river Nalón, to the south by Pravia and the west by Cudillero...

 with a group of painters that included Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida was a Valencian Spanish painter. Sorolla excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes, and monumental works of social and historical themes...

 and Cecilio Pla y Gallardo.

He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Madrid

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madrid

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madrid was founded on 7 March 1885 by Pope Leo XIII. Initially, the territory that now makes up the Archdiocese was part of the Archdiocese of Toledo. It was raised to the level of an Archdiocese on 25 March 1964 by Pope Paul VI. Pope John Paul II gave the...

 in 1891.

Talleres de Arte

That same year, at the age of 23, Granda founded Talleres de Arte in Madrid. The Archbishop-Bishop of Madrid-Alcala, Jose Maria Cos y Macho

José Cos y Macho

José María Justo Cos y Macho was a Spanish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Valladolid from 1901 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1911.-Biography:...

, whom Granda had known when Cos was the rector of Oviedo Cathedral

Cathedral of San Salvador (Oviedo)

The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Saviour is a Roman Catholic cathedral and minor basilica in the centre of Oviedo, in the Asturias region of northern Spain....

, approved the young priest's ministry, writing:

The works of art that leave your factories will open paths, as much in the republics of South America as in the European nations... by the profundity of the thought and the Christian spirit that animates them, by the newness and beauty of the drawing and the careful execution... Continue without hesitation, for the good of religion, the profession of the arts, joining perfectly your sacerdotal vocation with your artistic aptitude.

The original workshop was located on Calle Fernando el Santo in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, but was soon relocated to the Hotel de las Rosas residence in the Altos del Hipodromo to accommodate the growing number of artisans. Granda described the location:

To be able to make the art that we intend, we all live within a morally and physically sanitary environment... In the healthiest part of Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, at the extension of la Castellana, to the left of the racetrack, are buildings surrounded by gardens, with studios, workshops and living quarters that are spacious and flooded with air and light.

Felix Granda lived at the Hotel de las Rosas with his sister Candida, a childless widow who assisted him in the administration of the workshop. By 1900, over 200 artisans were employed by Talleres de Arte, creating altarpiece

Altarpiece

An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...

s, statuary, tabernacles

Church tabernacle

A tabernacle is the fixed, locked box in which, in some Christian churches, the Eucharist is "reserved" . A less obvious container, set into the wall, is called an aumbry....

, reliquaries

Reliquary

A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...

, monstrance

Monstrance

A monstrance is the vessel used in the Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, and Anglican churches to display the consecrated Eucharistic host, during Eucharistic adoration or Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Created in the medieval period for the public display of relics, the monstrance today is...

s, sacred vessels

Chalice (cup)

A chalice is a goblet or footed cup intended to hold a drink. In general religious terms, it is intended for drinking during a ceremony.-Christian:...

 and other works of sacred art

Sacred art

Sacred art is imagery intended to uplift the mind to the spiritual. Sacred art involves the ritual and cultic practices and practical and operative aspects of the path of the spiritual realization within the bosom of the tradition in question....

. The relationships with artists in various media that Granda had established in his formative years proved invaluable when gathering together so many artisans into a single enterprise. In 1911, he wrote:

My desire is to decorate; that is, to bring order, subordinating to a determined end various works of art, and that is why I have tried to gather under one address all those artistic professions that I believe most necessary for my aim: painting, sculpture, goldsmithery, enamelwork, carpentry, work in bronze; as well as drawing and embroidery for religious vestments.

Granda began no new project without a detailed explanation of its iconography to all of the artisans who would contribute. Each studio was directed by a master of the craft who managed the artisans and trained the apprentices. Labor ceased at dusk, when the workers were given time for formation, classes and conferences. The sculptors Jose Capuz Mamano, Luis Ortega Bru and Juan Vargas Cortes were among the many artisans who received their training at Talleres de Arte.

In 1911, the year of the International Eucharistic Congress

International Eucharistic Congress

In the Roman Catholic church, a Eucharistic Congress is a gathering of clergy, religious, and laity to bear witness to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, which is an important Roman Catholic doctrine...

 in Madrid, Felix Granda won the gold medal at the city's Exposition of Decorative Arts. The same year saw the publication of the workshop's first general catalogue.

Artistic philosophy and influences

The animating principle of the workshop was taken from Psalm 25.8: I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of Thy house; and the place where Thy glory dwelleth. This, coupled with Felix Granda's own aspiration: I am moved by the ideal of employing all my strength to make beautiful Thy temples and Thine altars, became the motto of Talleres de Arte. The emblem of the workshop depicted a man praying at the foot of an olive tree shedding many of its branches. The words that the man speaks are written on a banderole: Vetera novis augere et perficere (a motto of Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...

: To augment and perfect the old by way of the new) and Defracti sunt rami ut ego insererer (Romans 11.19: The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in).

When Granda wrote a short exposition of his purpose in 1911, he began by quoting the aforementioned motto of Pope Leo XIII, as well as that of Pope Pius X

Pope Pius X

Pope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...

: Instaurare omnia in Christo (Ephesians 1.10: To restore all things in Christ). The twofold theme of innovation and restoration was essential to his artistic and religious mission. Ernest Grimaud DeCaux, the Madrid correspondent for The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

explained:

At first sight he but returns to the first ages of the Church, when art was utilized to bring home to the multitudes, by the aid of symbols, religious dogmas and mysteries. Where Father Granda's originality shows itself, however, where a new art appears, is in his method of representing the eternal Christian symbolisms. He buries himself in the past and by patient study absorbs the spirit of the ancient symbols and with the knowledge thus acquired, aided by his mastery of the Scriptures, which are his code, he throws such power of expression into his work that not only every article dealt with, but even every line and shape of each piece has its symbolical voice recalling some act of Christ, a saying of the Holy Fathers, or a dogma of the Catholic religion. This eternal theme would be cold and monotonous if clothed in the past forms of art. In the hands of this artist priest penetrated with the spirit of the past, versed in the essence of Christianity, but with a modern mind, it takes a new shape, and it is in this respect that Father Granda is an innovator, because, whilst still going to the old well of tradition, he draws fresh water from it.

Granda himself wrote:

To make an art impregnated with the scent of Christ, saturated with memories of the past, where the Biblical spirit beats; and that this art be alive, united to the trunk of the traditions; and because it is of the past, that it correspond to the needs of the present: such is my desire... To begin a work from those same origins; to drink from the same fonts that inspired Christian art in its most glorious epochs. All this, deeply felt and executed with careful study, is what I desire to do with my own labors, and is what I want the artists and workers who form these workshops to do.

Under his direction, Talleres de Arte fabricated work in a variety of styles: Mozarabic

Mozarabic art and architecture

Mozarabic Art refers to art of Mozarabs , Iberian Christians living in Al-Andalus, the Muslim conquered territories in the period that comprises from the Arab invasion of the Iberian Peninsula to the end of the 11th century, adopted some Arab customs without converting to Islam, preserving their...

, Romanesque

Romanesque art

Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...

, Gothic

Gothic art

Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...

, Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 and Rococo

Rococo

Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

. Granda sought inspiration for his artwork from the beginnings of Christian history to his own time. When describing the iconographic schemes in his work, he often justified them by the precedent of Christian antiquity, citing studies by the archaeologists Antonio Bosio

Antonio Bosio

Antonio Bosio was an Italian scholar, the first systematic explorer of subterranean Rome , author of Roma Sotterranea and first urban spelunker.-Biography:Bosio was born in Malta....

, Giovanni Giustino Ciampini

Giovanni Giustino Ciampini

Giovanni Giustino Ciampini was an ecclesiastical archaeologist. He graduated from the University of Rome as a student of law but soon devoted himself to archaeological interests, which an important office in the Apostolic Chancery permitted him to pursue...

, Giovanni Caetano Bottari, Rev. Giuseppe Marchi

Giuseppe Marchi

Giuseppe Marchi was an Italian Jesuit archæologist who worked on the Catacombs of Rome.He entered the Society of Jesus in Rome 12 November 1814, shortly after the re-establishment of the order, and was professor of humanities successively in the colleges of Terni, Reggio Emilia, Modena and St....

, Giovanni Battista de Rossi

Giovanni Battista de Rossi

Giovanni Battista de Rossi was an Italian archaeologist, famous outside his field for his rediscovery of early Christian catacombs.-Life and works:He was born in Rome...

, Louis Perret, Rev. Joseph-Alexander Martigny

Joseph-Alexander Martigny

Joseph-Alexander Martigny was a French archaeologist and Canon of Belley.He studied at the petit séminaire of Belley and became a professor there in 1832...

 and Alphonse de Boissieu.

Yet Granda also corresponded with the architects of the Catalan Art Nouveau

Modernisme

Modernisme was a cultural movement associated with the search for Catalan national identity. It is often understood as an equivalent to a number of fin-de-siècle art movements, such as Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Secessionism, and Liberty style, and was active from roughly 1888 to 1911 Modernisme ...

, such as Antoni Gaudi

Antoni Gaudí

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Spanish Catalan architect and figurehead of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works reflect his highly individual and distinctive style and are largely concentrated in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, notably his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.Much of Gaudí's work was...

, who represented the artistic vanguard of his time, and he shared their enthusiasm for daring incorporation of natural forms into sacred art. For example, both Gaudi and Granda were fond of using figures of sea turtles as supports; Gaudi for the bases of the columns of the Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

The ' , commonly known as the Sagrada Família, is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí...

, and Granda as the legs of his monstrances. Granda was at times even bolder than Gaudi in his imagery. He wrote:

Today it is not enough to study the works of God as they have been studied before, to admire only the world that our eyes see... Through the microscope we can see the infinitely varied microorganisms; more powerful images have never come to the imagination of the artist. Should we not take advantage of this immense arsenal of scientific data that they provide to us, to make richer and more varied our decorations, and to teach the truth contained in the verse of the Kingly Prophet: nimis profundae factae sunt cogitationes tuae Domine!?

Granda discerned his principles from intense study of art history, scripture, patristics, sacred liturgy, religious tradition and nature; his purpose was to apply the same principles to everything made in his workshops, regardless of historical style. In 1929, Rev. Demetrio Zurbitu Recalde, SJ wrote an essay describing the work of Talleres de Arte; according to him, the whole of Felix Granda's philosophy of art could be condensed into four words: dignity, religiosity, popularity and symbolism.

Dignity

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the quality of religious art declined, as artisanal traditions were replaced by industrial models of production. A sentimental style of mass-produced art, known as l'art Saint-Sulpice after a Parisian neighborhood famous for its religious goods stores, became the international standard of sacred art for the Roman Catholic Church. Zurbitu decried the prevalent artistic standards of his time:

It would be said that the artists had ceded their posts to the merchants; it would seem that the sculptor and the goldsmith had no concern for making a beautiful object to inspire piety, but rather for making an industrial model able to be multiplied by the dozen. The noble carving of marble and wood had been laid aside before the invasion of common plaster... And in this inundation of so many profane and vulgar objects, as wretched in form as in material, it would be useless to look for any sign of religious inspiration or even a recollection of the respect deserved by the noble destiny for which they were forged: honor to the House of God and participation in the most august sacrifice.

In contrast, the artwork produced at Talleres de Arte was made according to the highest standards of craftsmanship and material. The finest sacred metalwork produced at Talleres de Arte was the richest then produced in Spain, embellished with repoussage

Repoussé and chasing

Repoussé or repoussage is a metalworking technique in which a malleable metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side to create a design in low relief. There are few techniques that offer such diversity of expression while still being relatively economical...

, set gemstones, carved ivory

Ivory carving

Ivory carving is the carving of ivory, that is to say animal tooth or tusk, by using sharp cutting tools, either mechanically or manually. The ancient craft has now virtually ceased, as since CITES it is illegal under most circumstances throughout the world....

 figures, vitreous enamel

Vitreous enamel

Vitreous enamel, also porcelain enamel in U.S. English, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C...

s, and medallions, figurines and friezes worked in metal. But Granda also believed that humbler objects, produced for churches and monasteries without wealthy patrons, although lacking the splendor of richness must never lack the dignity of beauty. He wrote that it has more value that a man venerate a statue of Tanagra clay

Tanagra figurine

The Tanagra figurines were a mold-cast type of Greek terracotta figurines produced from the later fourth century BCE, primarily in the Boeotian town of Tanagra. They were coated with a liquid white slip before firing and were sometimes painted afterwards in naturalistic tints with watercolors, such...

 than a shapeless gold sculpture of decadent art.
Granda preferred the direct carving of wood and stone to cast sculpture, believing that the easy methods of mass production resulted in a paganized sensuousness of form. The sculptures carved by his artisans were rather noble and sober, full of gravity and purity, without tragic poses or excessive gestures; the most proper to the serene beauty of religious art. Granda decried theatricality in religious art, applying to it Saint Jerome's

Jerome

Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...

 condemnation of pompous rhetoric: Like a strumpet in the streets, it does not aim at instructing the public, but at winning their favor.

Religiosity

Felix Granda's second principle was religiosity; he wrote of his desire [t]o use art as we use language, to speak and to teach about Christ - not to teach about ourselves, and much less to boast of our luxury and vanity. As a devout priest, Granda's imagination was saturated with the images of Holy Scripture, which he described as an inexhausible treasury of motifs and figures. Zurbitu commented:

Scripture, doctrine, liturgy, tradition... are the perennial fonts from which spring his artistic ideas; the arsenal of his decorative themes. An altarpiece designed by Father Granda is not merely a set of architectural elements... The great altars built in Talleres de Arte are truly poetic, each developing an entire cycle of liturgical and theological ideas, full of doctrine and religiosity.

As an example, Zurbitu explained the symbolism of a monstrance that Granda designed for Nocturnal Adoration

Eucharistic adoration

Eucharistic adoration is a practice in the Roman Catholic Church, and in a few Anglican and Lutheran churches, in which the Blessed Sacrament is exposed to and adored by the faithful....

 in Madrid. Figures of the Four and Twenty Elders who worship the Lamb in St. John's Apocalypse

Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...

 are placed around the base, separated into three groups; eight kneel, eight bow profoundly, and eight lift bowls of smoking incense according to their degree of spiritual perfection. Around the base of the monstrance's throne, men of the Old Testament prefiguring the Eucharistic sacrifice stand as caryatids. Abraham

Abraham

Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...

 and Isaac

Isaac

Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...

 walk to Mount Moriah

Moriah

Moriah is the name given to a mountain range by the Book of Genesis, in which context it is giv. the location of the sacrifice of Isaac. Traditionally Moriah has been interpreted as the name of the specific mountain at which this occurred, rather than just the name of the range...

, recalling the sacrifice of Calvary

Calvary

Calvary or Golgotha was the site, outside of ancient Jerusalem’s early first century walls, at which the crucifixion of Jesus is said to have occurred. Calvary and Golgotha are the English names for the site used in Western Christianity...

. Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

 and a snakebitten Israelite represent salvation through the Holy Cross. Melchizedek

Melchizedek

Melchizedek or Malki Tzedek translated as "my king righteous") is a king and priest mentioned during the Abram narrative in the 14th chapter of the Book of Genesis....

 presents his offering of bread and wine, and Isaiah

Isaiah

Isaiah ; Greek: ', Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation") was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus...

 and David

David

David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

 proclaim their messianic prophecies.

Between them are sculpted warriors keeping watch. An inscription from identifies them: Behold threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel surrounded the bed of Solomon

Solomon

Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...

. All holding swords, and most expert in war: every man's sword upon his thigh, because of fears in the night (Song of Songs 3.7). This is an allegory for Nocturnal Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

Blessed Sacrament

The Blessed Sacrament, or the Body and Blood of Christ, is a devotional name used in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Old Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches, to refer to the Host after it has been consecrated in the sacrament of the Eucharist...

. Around the monstrance holding the Divine Solomon (Christ), the chosen men of Israel (Christians), armed with prayer and mortification, stand guard against the fears in the night (the traps that the Prince of Darkness has prepared in the shadows against the Church Militant).

On another monstrance, Granda fashioned the base in the likeness of the City of God, with twelve gates guarded by angels bearing the names of the twelve tribes. The monstrance stands on seven pillars that rise from this base, which recall the Proverb: Wisdom hath built herself a house, she hath hewn her out seven pillars (Proverbs 9.1).

Popularity

Demetrio Zurbitu wrote that the adornment of our temples cannot be an exclusive gift to a few aesthetes; it needs to be understood and savored by the believing masses. According to this spirit, Felix Granda insisted that the art produced at Talleres De Arte not be abstruse; that it be able to be understood and enjoyed by all worshippers, including the simple and unschooled. He employed forms that would translate into popular imagination; angels and demons, monsters and mythological creatures, regional flora and fauna, and men at their everyday labors.

Symbolism

The restoration of a symbolism to sacred art was a foundational principle of Talleres de Arte. In his initial instructions to Felix Granda in 1891, Archbishop Cos encouraged him to restore to the objects of divine worship the sacred symbolism that they have lost through the centuries.. Ernest Grimaud DeCaux wrote of Father Granda:

A fervent admirer of the works of infinite beauty created by the artists, sculptors, carvers and metal-workers of the Middle Ages with their richness of symbolism, he laments that the Christian art of today hardly exists as a symbolical art. He ardently desires, therefore, to revive modern church art. He would see, in each sanctuary, sacred vessels symbolical in themselves and not merely dead objects in the hands of the officiant.

Commonly recurring symbols included fountains with seven streams representing the sacraments; the pious pelican giving blood to its chicks; the thirsting deer, representing souls longing for God; roses representing the Holy Wounds

Holy Wounds

The Five Holy Wounds or Five Sacred Wounds refer to what are believed to be the five piercing wounds that was suffered during the crucifixion of Jesus....

; the dove and the wolf, symbols of the pure soul and the perverse soul; the olive tree, symbol of peace; the peacock, symbol of immortality; the asp and the basilisk

Basilisk

In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk is a legendary reptile reputed to be king of serpents and said to have the power to cause death with a single glance...

, representing sin; the Tree of Life

Tree of Life

The tree of life in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of the Garden of Eden , whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. Together with the tree of life, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . According to some scholars, however, these are in fact...

; and the Good Shepherd. Granda himself wrote:

The Holy Bible, the hymns and prayers of the Church, offer to us an inexhaustible treasure of motifs and figures... The lines, the lights and reflections of gold, the luster and color of precious stones, the roses and the irises, the passion flower

Passion flower

Passiflora, known also as the passion flowers or passion vines, is a genus of about 500 species of flowering plants, the namesakes of the family Passifloraceae. They are mostly vines, with some being shrubs, and a few species being herbaceous. For information about the fruit of the passiflora...

s and the daisies, the pomegranates, the grapevines, the leaves and the flowers, the fish and the birds, the waters and the clouds, the signs and the mysterious things that the sacred books suggest to us are the words with which we stammer the name of our hearts' beloved.

Zurbitu described a candlestick made at Talleres de Arte, with a base formed by three hooded men sleeping while mounted on the backs of monsters; the monsters represent vice, and the candle is a perennial symbol of Christ. The sleepers are those to whom St. Paul speaks: Rise thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead: and Christ shall enlighten thee (Ephesians 5.14).

Major works

Under the direction of Felix Granda, Talleres de Arte designed and fabricated elaborate monstrances for the cathedrals of Leon

León Cathedral

Santa María de León Cathedral, also called The House of Light or the Pulchra Leonina is situated in the city of León in north-western Spain. It was built on the site of previous Roman baths of the 2nd century which, 800 years later, king Ordoño II converted into a palace.The León Cathedral,...

, Lugo, Madrid, Oviedo

Cathedral of San Salvador (Oviedo)

The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Saviour is a Roman Catholic cathedral and minor basilica in the centre of Oviedo, in the Asturias region of northern Spain....

 and Burgos

Burgos Cathedral

The Burgos Cathedral is a Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral in Burgos, Spain. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is famous for its vast size and unique architecture. Its construction began in 1221, and was in use nine years later, although work continued on and off for two hundred years...

. An altarpiece built for the episcopal palace in Madrid, dedicated to the Virgin of Almudena, is now prominent in the city's new cathedral

Catedral de la Almudena

Santa María la Real de La Almudena is a Catholic cathedral in Madrid.When the capital of Spain was transferred from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, the seat of the Church in Spain remained in Toledo; so the new capital – unusually for a Catholic country – had no cathedral...

.

The crown for Our Lady of Guadalupe in Caceres was created at Talleres de Arte in 1928. The canonical coronation of was attended by King Alfonso XIII, the papal nuncio, and every cardinal of Spain. Other major works included the main altar in the Cistercian Abbey of San Isidro de Dueñas in Palencia, an altar in the Basilica del Pilar

Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar

The Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar is a Roman Catholic church in the city of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. The Basilica venerates Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title Our Lady of the Pillar praised as Mother of the Hispanic Peoples by Pope John Paul II...

 in Zaragoza, the altar of Nuestra Señora del Buen Consejo in the Church of San Isisdro in Madrid; and the murals in the apse of the seminary chapel in Madrid.

Church of St. Thomas — Aviles, Spain

In 1903, Felix Granda designed the interior furnishings for the new Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury in Aviles

Avilés

Avilés is a city in Asturias, Spain. Avilés is with Oviedo and Gijón, one of the main towns in the Principality of Asturias.The town occupies the flattest land in the municipality, in a land that belonged to the sea, surrounded by small promontories, all of them having an altitude of less than...

, designed by Luis Bellido Gonzalez.

The main altar has a mensa supported by three winged figures worked in bronze, holding shields which display the attributes of the Theological Virtues. Between them are marble bas-reliefs of the sacrifice of Abraham and of Melchizedek, expressing the double aspect of the Mass as Sacrifice and as Sacrament. The tabernacle is composed of two statues holding an ark; the men are Melchizedek, representing the natural law, and Aaron, representing the Mosaic law. The ark they support represents the Church. On its door is the Lamb of God

Lamb of God

The title Lamb of God appears in the Gospel of John, with the exclamation of John the Baptist: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" in John 1:29 when he sees Jesus....

, flanked by a dove, symbol of the pure soul, and a wolf, symbol of the perverse soul. At its corners stand figures of the four Evangelists, and on its other façades are depicted the Holy Trinity, the Last Supper

Last Supper

The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is...

 and the Wedding at Cana, which St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem was a distinguished theologian of the early Church . He is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. In 1883, Cyril was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII...

 saw as an image of transubstantiation

Transubstantiation

In Roman Catholic theology, transubstantiation means the change, in the Eucharist, of the substance of wheat bread and grape wine into the substance of the Body and Blood, respectively, of Jesus, while all that is accessible to the senses remains as before.The Eastern Orthodox...

. Behind the tabernacle are five paintings; the central one of Mary, and the others showing scenes from the lives of St. Thomas of Canterbury and from the foundation of the Order of Mercy

Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy

The Royal, Celestial and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of the Captives also known as Our Lady of Ransom is a Roman Catholic religious order established in 1218 by St...

.

Side altars are dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the late 12th and early to mid 13th centuries...

, the Madre del Amor Hermoso, and St. Joseph

Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....

. The pulpit

Pulpit

Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...

 is crowned by a griffin

Griffin

The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle...

, representing the two-natured

Hypostatic union

Hypostatic union is a technical term in Christian theology employed in mainstream Christology to describe the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one hypostasis.The First Council of Ephesus recognised this doctrine and affirmed its importance, stating that the...

 Christ. Winged monsters representing the vices tumble beneath it. The lower part of the pulpit's rostrum is decorated with four animals: a lion, a dog, a rooster and a ram, representing the necessary virtues of a good preacher: strength, fidelity, opportunity and courage.

Tomb of St. John of the Cross — Segovia, Spain

The sepulchral chapel of St. John of the Cross

John of the Cross

John of the Cross , born Juan de Yepes Álvarez, was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, Catholic saint, Carmelite friar and priest, born at Fontiveros, Old Castile....

 in Segovia

Segovia

Segovia is a city in Spain, the capital of Segovia Province in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is situated north of Madrid, 30 minutes by high speed train. The municipality counts some 55,500 inhabitants.-Etymology:...

 was built in 1926 to commemorate the bicentennial of the saint's canonization, and includes an altarpiece, several statues and reliefs, mosaics, a tabernacle, and an elaborate coffin above the altar containing the torso and head of the saint.

Belen Jesuit Church — Havana, Cuba

The altarpiece of the Belen Church in Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

 was built by Talleres de Arte in 1915. This Jesuit church is one of the only Gothic Revival buildings in Cuba. The altarpiece is also Gothic, with pinnacles, elaborate tracery and tiny hunkypunks

Hunky Punk

Hunky Punk is Somerset dialect for grotesque carvings on the side of buildings .By definition, a hunkypunk is an architectural feature that serves no purpose. Therefore, a true gargoyle is not a hunkypunk because it serves to drain water through its mouth...

. The central image is a large statue of the Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart

The Sacred Heart is one of the most famous religious devotions to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of His divine love for Humanity....

. A procession of figures representing the Patriarchs and Prophets stand on a plinth of marble and carry the Ark of the Covenant

Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...

; above them statues of angels lift up the triumphant Christ Child. The lateral sections house statues of Jesuit saints.

Virgin of Covadonga — Covadonga, Spain

The triptychal throne and crown for the Virgin of Covadonga were made at Talleres de Arte in 1928. Demetrio Zurbitu described the work:

It has the fantastic richness of an oriental tale... when the doors of the throne are opened wide so that the image may be venerated, it seems like the opening of the pages of a great book written for the people: for Asturias and for Spain... Because everything here has been done for them, everything is within reach of their intelligence. They know the patriarchs, prophets and kings... who recall the lineage of the Virgin of Nazareth. They know also the two larger figures... who represent the church of Asturias; they are her patrons, St. Matthew

Matthew the Evangelist

Matthew the Evangelist was, according to the Bible, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the four Evangelists.-Identity:...

 and St. Eulalia. They know the animals scattered throughout the ornamental borders to be symbols of the land of Asturias, because they live... in her forests and mountains. And they know, most of all, the four representations of Asturian life - plowing the land, forging iron, fishing and mining - who, hammered in relief on the bottom part of the portals, are like men offering their daily struggles at the foot of the throne of their Queen.

On the pedestal of the statue's throne is carved the story of Pelayo, founder of the Kingdom of Asturias

Kingdom of Asturias

The Kingdom of Asturias was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias. It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania...

 and hero of the Reconquest

Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...

. On the throne itself, a concept of sublime Marian theology is expressed. The days of creation are represented by worlds budding from chaos, rays of light tearing the clouds, waters separating, vegetation blooming, beasts and fish and birds filling the earth. The Virgin who sits here is presented as greater than all creation, because the world and the things that fill it deserve to be no more than the throne of her majesty. This composition recalls the words which are read as the lesson at the Mass of the Immaculate Conception

Immaculate Conception

The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain of original sin. It is one of the four dogmata in Roman Catholic Mariology...

: I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived (Proverbs 8.22-30).

Sanctuary of la Gran Promesa — Valladolid, Spain

A 17th century church in Valladolid

Valladolid

Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...

 that had formerly served as the chapel of the Jesuit College of St. Ambrose; the parish Church of St. Stephen, and the Expiatory Temple of the Sacred Heart was rededicated as the National Sanctuary of la Gran Promesa in 1941 to commemorate an especially Spanish devotion to the Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart

The Sacred Heart is one of the most famous religious devotions to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of His divine love for Humanity....

propagated by the 18th century Jesuit Bernardo de Hoyos.

Talleres de Arte created the new interior artwork for the Sanctuary over the next decade, replacing altarpieces and shrines destroyed by fire in 1869. The main altarpiece includes a large sculpture of the Sacred Heart and reliefs of John the Apostle, Mary, the Last Supper and the Doubt of Thomas. Felix Granda also designed side altars dedicated to Christ the King of Martyrs and Our Lady of the Pillar, as well as reliefs of la Gran Promesa and the Adoration of the Magi; a processional float of Christ the King; the Pulpit; the Stations of the Cross; the tabernacle; the rood and the monstrance.

External links

Granda Liturgical Arts

Talleres de Arte Granda